The present invention relates to a yarn winding machine for continuously winding advancing yarns into packages.
In the production of melt spun yarns in a spinning process, the yarns are wound to packages at the end of the production process. To this end, winding machines are used, which continuously wind a yarn to packages without interrupting the process. To this end, winding machines of this type comprise a plurality of winding spindles, which are mounted on a movable spindle support, also referred to as a turret herein, and alternately moved by means of the turret to a winding position for winding the yarns, and then to a doffing position for removing the fully wound packages and putting on new tubes. The yarn change from a first winding spindle to a second winding spindle occurs automatically, so that the spinning process need not be interrupted.
To slip one or more tubes over the winding spindle held in the doffing position after removing a fully wound package, various systems for such winding machines are known in the art.
DE 24 27 016 discloses a winding machine with a rotatable turret that mounts two winding spindles in cantilever fashion. To this end, the winding machine comprises a device for slipping the tubes on an empty winding spindle while it is in the doffing position. The tube slip-on device comprises a gripper arm, which is pivotally supported on an axle. The gripper arm is adapted for axial displacement along the axle. To slip a tube on the winding spindle held in the doffing position, the gripper arm removes a tube from a tube magazine, and puts it on the empty winding spindle by performing pivotal and axial sliding movements. In this process, the position of the winding spindle in the doffing position remains unchanged. However, such a tube slip-on device is not suitable for winding machines, in which the turret performs a bypassing movement for enabling in the winding position a package buildup on the winding spindle being in this position. In particular, in the winding process of so-called spin textured yarns, wherein yarns with coarser deniers are produced, and thus entail a rapid package buildup, it is not realistically possible to stop the turret for doffing the full packages or putting on the tubes.
In such winding machines, in which the turret performs a bypassing movement for winding the packages, the fully wound packages and the tubes are each removed and replaced automatically by means of so-called doffers. For example, EP 0 757 658 A1 discloses such a winding machine, in which a traveling doffer is equipped with a mandrel that holds the tubes. The doffer moves to a certain winding spindle position of the winding machine and slides the tubes onto the empty winding spindle. However, in this case it is necessary that the turret perform no movement at the moment when the winding spindle receives the tubes. Yet, in the winding of yarns with coarse deniers, only very short doffing times are available. Any disturbance in such a time-critical tube slip-on process would thus lead to a discontinuation of this process, and a new process would have to be started in a changed position of the winding spindle.
It is therefore an object of the invention to further develop a winding machine of the described type such that it permits putting on tubes in a simple manner also in the case of very short shutdown times of the winding spindle.